IREX Celebrates International Education Week

“We come from many places, but we share a common future,” President Barack Obama said in an address to the United Nations General Assembly this September. This statement could not be more fitting for International Education Week (November 16-20), which celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

This week, exchange program participants and alumni worldwide are organizing special events to share their cultures and those of the countries in which they have studied. Yet they truly contribute to international understanding each day of their exchange program experience and serve as lifelong “cultural ambassadors” after returning home.

International students participating in the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program and the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program introduce over 5,000 Americans to their cultures each year, speaking at schools, Rotary clubs, retirement homes, college campuses, and community centers around the U.S. They work directly with Americans to strengthen the communities where they study, providing over 8,000 hours of volunteer service each year.

International teachers bring the world to American classrooms and create lasting connections with their U.S. colleagues through the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program and the International Leaders in Education Program. American educators who travel abroad enliven lessons for students in the host country and in the U.S. by sharing their firsthand knowledge of another culture. Thanks to advances in technology, the exchange experience doesn’t have to include an airplane – partner teachers can link their students virtually through video conferencing and online networks like ExchangesConnect.

A joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week is part of U.S. efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States.